Box Score SAN RAFAEL, Calif. —  Devin Golston had a game-high 14 points and 10 rebounds, teammates Dominique Taplin, Myles Carrillo, and freshman Christopher Schwartz-Edmisten each contributed 12 points, and Jacob Noisat netted all 10 of his points in the second half Saturday night as the Dominican University of California men's basketball team rode a strong defensive effort to an 81-62 victory over Cal State East Bay.

The win was the third in a row by the Penguins (5-3) and avenged an 88-68 loss to the Pioneers (3-4) last season. Dominican shot 50.8 percent from the floor in the game while limiting CSUEB to 31.7 shooting percentage in the non-conference contest. The Penguins in two years under head coach Booker T. Harris now have a record of 11-0 when holding opponents to 62 or fewer points.

“We turned up our defensive intensity,” Harris said. “The last 10 minutes of the first half we improved and did a better job of keeping them in front of us and contesting shots.”

Led by Golston's double-double, Dominican, second in the 14-team Pacific West Conference in rebounding margin (+6.3), outrebounded the Pioneers 48-31. Taplin, in addition to scoring a career-high in points, recorded a career-best eight rebounds to Dominican's balanced attack.

The Penguins now have six players averaging between 11.3 and 9.5 points per game this season.

“It's amazing,” Harris said. “It goes to show you that those guys don't feel they all have to do it on their own.”

Dominican's bench outscored CSUEB's 31-18 in the game, 18-5 in the first half when the Penguins overcame an early 10-0 deficit. The Penguins put the game out of reach with 3:35 to go when Carrillo netted the team's season-high ninth three-point shot of the game for a 75-56 advantage.

Dominican dug itself a big hole after the opening tip, committing turnovers on four of its first five possessions and falling behind by 10 points. However, a three-pointer by freshman Matt Hayes initiated an 18-6 run in a five-minute span that allowed the Penguins to take the lead on a Ricky Wofford steal and layup. Wofford, who had a game-high six assists, had four points in that stretch and Schwartz-Edmisten had five.

The Pioneers regained the lead but the Penguins went on another tear, outscoring CSUEB 12-3 to build their lead to 32-24 on a tip-in by Connor Haysbert, the fifth different Dominican player to score in that surge. The Penguins took an eight-point lead, 36-28, to halftime following a nifty drive and three-point play by Taplin with 9.4 seconds to go. Taplin and Golston both had seven points apiece in the first half for
Dominican while Schwartz-Edmisten paced the Penguins with nine points in 11 minutes off the bench.

The Penguins will conclude the non-conference portion of their home schedule on Monday, Dec. 17 against high-scoring Simon Fraser University of British Columbia, Canada.  The Clan (5-2) is averaging 89 points a game and has scored more than 100 points in a game three times this season. Game time is 7:00 p.m in the Conlan Center. Live coverage will be available at www.dominicanathletics.com/live.